Make A Plan To Love Me
by barney-mugger
Summary: [Spuffy Post Chosen] Whilst with the Scoobs on vacation in Egpyt, Buffy is miserable over Spike's death. However she soon meets a mystic who claims to be able to bring Spike back. What will the consquences be if she does?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot, all Buffyverse belongs to Joss etc.

Summary: Post Chosen, Buffy and the gang fly out to Egypt for a relaxing vacation before figuring out what to do about the new Slayers. But with Buffy stuck in a deep melancholy over Spike's death, the trip doesn't seem to be heading towards the fun. However Buffy soon meets a strange fortune teller who is convinced she can bring Spike back.

Buffy Summers watched her glass of _shai _tea quiver with the thump of passing footsteps, and wrinkled her nose as the rich scent of a sheesha pipe curled around her nostrils. The incessant chatter in Arabic around her reminded Buffy of just how alone she was. Sure, she wasn't alone, alone. Xander, Willow, Giles, Faith, Dawn and Andrew were all nearby, nearby being defined as in the city walls. Buffy had ventured to Khan Al-Khalili by herself, wanting a break from the constant concerned looks and nonsensical babble about Star Trek and the Justice League.

A single tear slid down Buffy's cheek, landing with a small _plop _into her shai. Everything reminded her of him. Every peroxide blonde, every Billy Idol song on the radio, all the guys in leather coats, even a bottle of bleach would never look the same.

Sighing, Buffy waved for a fresh cup of the deliciously comforting hibiscus tea.

"Room for one more?"

Buffy twisted in her seat to see Xander, slightly hard to miss with his conspicuous eye patch and loud English amongst the natives in the packed coffeehouse.

"Hey, Xander. Sure, sit down." She pulled out a curlicue wire chair for one of her closest friends, passing him the untouched tea that the waiter had just placed on the rickety table.

"Shouldn't you be with Will or the rest of the gang?" Buffy asked, slightly disappointed that her angsty solitude had been disturbed.

Xander looked her with his one eye, and Buffy sensed the all-seeing qualities that Dawn and Caleb had pointed out. She couldn't believe she had never noticed just how shrewd Xander was before, and Buffy started to squirm uncomfortably under his unfaltering gaze. She was pretty sure he knew just what she was thinking about.

"Do you think it gets easier?" Xander wondered, as much to himself as to Buffy.

"What does?"

Xander looked her right in the eye again and answered; "Losing the person you love."

Buffy started to squirm again. She was so ashamed of herself for forgetting about Anya- the ex-demon may have had her annoying eccentricity, but she was sensitive and kind under it all, and of course Xander must be feeling the same way she was.

"I'm really sorry about Anya," Buffy said, placing her hand on top of Xander's. "I'm not sure if I even said that before."

Xander smiled sadly. "It's alright Buff. It's only been like a week since we closed the Hellmouth, and we all know you've been out of it since Spike…" Xander trailed off.

Buffy returned the sad smile. "It's OK, Xand. You can say that he's-that he's…dead."

"…died." Xander finished, gripping Buffy's hand tighter.

With that one small word, Buffy felt the overwhelming need to be alone again. She pulled her hand back, and stood up.

"I'm gonna go shopping, seeing as we're in this huge bazaar. Might as well take advantage of it. See you at the hotel tonight." Buffy threw a handful of notes on the table, "For the tea." She then turned and walked out of the coffeehouse, ignoring the wolf whistles from a few creeps near the doorway.

Xander watched her go dejectedly. Willow was sure that he would be able to get through the Buffy, seeing as he had lost someone dear to him during the final moments of Sunnydale as well. Xander wallowed in his grief for the first three days, and then appeared to come out fine. Willow knew he still wept in private, usually at night. But he didn't completely submerge himself in anguish like Buffy did. She had barely spoken to any of the Scoobs at all since the day of Sunnydale's demise, and even on the plane to Egypt, she had just put her headphones on and ignored everyone.

Giles was especially anxious- but that was his nature. Faith appeared not to care, but everyone knew she did. Xander sat down again at the table, brushing his feet over the thick woven rug, nursing the cup of tea Buffy had left. He would try again tonight at the hotel. Buffy couldn't stay depressed over Spike forever. She had eventually come around after killing Angel- although she had wigged and lived in L.A for the first three months. Xander felt a twinge of unease. If that was what she had done over Angel, what was she liable to do this time?

Buffy pushed through the throngs of sweaty people crowding the tiny alleyways of the bazaar, gasping for breath when she finally ducked into the entrance of a stall, sending the beaded curtain flapping. She looked around, and taking in the various zodiac symbols, heavy aroma of incense, twinkling crystals and candles; flaming flickering in the slight breeze, gathered she was in some kind of mystic place.

Buffy jumped as a dark skinned, hoop earring-wearing woman drifted out from what seemed to be thin air.

The woman gasped as she caught sight of Buffy, and threw her hands in the air. "The Slayer!" she hissed, the many rings on her thin fingers glinting in the candlelight.

Buffy looked at the soothsayer in shock. "How do you know that?" was all she managed to blurt out.

"I am All Seeing. I know much about you, Slayer."

Buffy was now wary. Any strange person with knowledge of her was never good news.

"I know what you seek," the seer's eyes flashed, becoming almost reptilian. Buffy blinked- surely a trick of the light.

"Oh yeah? What is it I seek?" Buffy asked, bravado and confidence back in her tone and stance.

"The one who walks in the darkness. The man who breaks all the ancient rules. The vampire!" The mystic's voice pitched, and her eyes, heavily circled in black kohl, flashed again.

Buffy took a step back. This woman was obviously for real. But what exactly was she?

"So what if that's what I seek?" Buffy retorted, covering up the shake in her voice.

"Because I can give you back what you lost. I can bring back this vampire…this Spike." The mystic's voice was more conniving now, the cunning whisper of a used car salesman.

Buffy shook her head. "Uh-uh. No way. Lady, I've died twice. I know what happens when you resurrect someone- it's not of the good." Despite her confident words, Buffy trembled inside. What if she could have Spike back? She was almost willing to risk whatever repercussions the earth threw back at her to have him with her again.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. All I need is photograph or a personal item, and then he can be back with you once again," the soothsayer cajoled.

Buffy slipped her fingers into her jacket pocket and caressed the thin silver lighter she kept there at all times, then quickly retracted them. "No."

But Buffy kept thinking. When she had been raised from the dead, she'd been yanked out of Heaven, a beautiful place she'd never wanted to leave. But there was no guarantee Spike would go there. His sordid history as a vampire surely had to count against him.

_You're reaching_, she thought to herself. _You're just trying to find a reason to let this freaky random bring him back. _

Buffy reached for the lighter once more, and then withdrew her hand again.

"No," she repeated, and walked towards the door.

"Wait, child," the seer called, "you are missing your chance!"

Buffy made no reply and walked right out the doorway, back into the crowded Khan Al-Khalili main alley.

Walking through the swarm of tourists and locals alike, Buffy felt for the lighter, looking for a small piece of comfort. Feeling nothing but the lining of her pocket, Buffy gasped in horror. She rooted thorough the pockets on her pants, and still nothing. Spinning around, Buffy gazed frantically for the seer's stall. But it was gone. Chintzy souvenir shops surrounded her, as did shops with cotton sheets, glass perfume bottles and ornate jewellery, but no fortune telling in sight. Buffy paced back a few steps, still looking, still seeing nothing. Collaring a stall owner, Buffy asked him, "Is there a fortune telling stand in this area of the markets?"

The man shook his head. "No," he said slowly, "no, there are no fortune telling in all of Khan Al-Khalili."

"Are you sure?"

"Very sure, miss. Would you like to have a look at my glass bottles?"

"No. Thank you." Buffy paced away from the man, and looked around again.

"What have I done?" she murmured.


	2. Chapter 2

The narrow alleys continued to bustle and thrive, but Buffy heard none of it.

Another tiny tear slid out of her eye as she mourned the loss of the lighter, the one possession of Spike's she had. Buffy hastily wiped it away and stood up straight, her brain beginning to whir.

"Ok. A strange, possibly demon lady could have the power to bring Spike back, and now she has the means to do so. Not of the good. At all. Help needed."

Buffy pulled out the other slim possession that lived in her jacket pocket- a cell phone. She pressed the buttons carefully to avoid Slayer strength damage, and held it to her ear somewhat frantically as she waited for her friends to pick up.

"Hello?" Dawn answered chirpily.

"Hey, Dawn, I-" Buffy was interrupted by a loud yell in the background, Andrew shouting; "Who is it?"

Buffy heard Dawn yell back; "It's Buffy! Now shut up, I'm trying to talk!"

"Right. Sorry. You were saying?"

"Do you know where everyone is Dawnie?"

"Umm…I think Giles went to the Egyptian Museum, Faith grabbed a few axes before she left so I guess she went on some kinda patrol, and Willow and Xander went to pyramids for the light and sound show. Why? Where are you?" There was more than a touch of concern in her sister's voice, and Buffy felt her heart ache for causing Dawn distress.

"I'm at the markets." Buffy knew better than to alert her sister of the potential crisis just yet, as Dawn would predictably want to be involved, "Just keep doing what you're doing Dawn and I'll be back soon."

"But Buffy! I don't think I can stand another game of Dungeons and Dragons! Andrew's cheating!" Dawn whined into the receiver, causing a scuffle where it became apparent Andrew had snatched the phone from Dawn when he screamed; "I did not cheat! I am just an excellent dwarf master!"

Then there was only dial tone. Buffy looked at the phone for a second, and then snapped it shut. First on her priority list was to track down Giles, he would probably know what to do. Then Willow, she could do a locator spell to try and track down the lighter, and therefore the fortuneteller. Faith would definitely be useful if Buffy needed to confront the strange, most likely demonic, woman again.

With these thoughts firmly embedded in her mind, Buffy turned and pushed through the throngs of people to reach her friends.


	3. Chapter 3

Giles was lost in thought as he gazed at the shrivelled face of one of Egypt's great kings- the flaming haired Ramses the 2nd

Giles was lost in thought as he gazed at the shrivelled face of one of Egypt's great kings- the flaming haired Ramses the 2nd. The horrific snarl of the ancient corpse reminded Giles disconcertingly of the last encounter he had with a mummy, and he shuddered slightly.

Stepping out the Cairo museum's mummy room, he let out a quiet exclamation of shock as he almost barrelled right into a frantic looking Buffy.

"Buffy? Whatever is the matter?" he asked anxiously, gazing at his one time Slayer's face.

Buffy opened her mouth to reply before collapsing into sobs.

Flustered, Giles patted her awkwardly on the back and had another attempt at the question.

"Er…what's the matter?"

"Spike! She took Spike's lighter!" Buffy bawled, sniffling and rubbing furiously at her eyes.

"Erm, Buffy, I'm afraid you're going to have to start from the beginning- where were you and who exactly is this woman you say took Spike's cigarette lighter?"

Taking a few deep breaths, Buffy calmed and rubbed the back of her hand across her face.

The pair sat on a nearby bench and Buffy recounted the story of the eerie seer, and how when she left the stall the lighter had vanished, as had the stall.

Giles patted her back again, but this time with a bit more caring and understanding.

"This certainly is unsettling news. If this soothsayer does indeed have the lighter, she could summon Spike from the dead and unleash unknown havoc upon the wider world!"

"Thank you for that clarification, Giles," Buffy said dryly. "How do you suggest we try to find her and get the lighter back?"

"Perhaps we should go down to the pyramids to find Willow. She certainly should be able to cast a locator spell."

"I was thinking the same. Let's go."

...

The woman laughed, an unearthly demonic laugh that would raise the hairs on the back of a vampire's neck.

She held the cigarette lighter up; it's silver surface glinting in the dim light. Her jewellery rattled as she crossed to a stone vat filled with an ominous looking mixture- it bubbled and gurgled away without any heat underneath and was a dark, deep red.

She dropped the lighter in; it floated a moment on the surface before slowly being consumed by the scarlet liquid. As soon as it had sunk out of view, steam gushed and hissed in torrents from the surface, clearing to show the mixture had turned pitch black.

The seer cackled again, dancing around the vat and chanting repeatedly, her eyes wild and gleaming in the flickering light of the candles.

The final word she screeched was in English, and she repeated it several times: "Arise! Arise! Arise!"

A roaring wind tore through the room, extinguishing the candles and whipping the fortune-teller's dark hair around her face. The vat's contents remained undisturbed but suddenly illuminated- just in time to allow the clairvoyant to see a tall, bleach blonde materialised in the room, gaze down at his hands, and let go a stream of curses.

(A/N: Wow, it's certainly been awhile. I have finally got some time to write so I've decided to pick this one up again. Hope you enjoy!)


	4. Chapter 4

The flow of obscenities stopped for a moment, and he stretched out his hands, snapping the neck of the fortune-teller

The flow of obscenities stopped for a moment, and he stretched out his hands, snapping the neck of the fortune-teller.

A large grin spread across his features as his fangs emerged and his facial features twisted to become vampiric. "I'm back, baby."

...

The Great Pyramids of Giza are the symbol of Egypt- embossed on every tacky souvenir and gaudy postcard to leave the country.

But Buffy barely had eyes for them as she frantically scanned the area for Willow and Xander. The lights of the flashing display were hurting her eyes, but she kept on looking, ignoring the tawdry voiceover that was meant to be the Sphinx. Finally, she spotted the two sitting together and snickering at the show.

Buffy excused her way through the crowd of seated people and hissed the story into Willow's ear.

Willow, whose eyes had already widened at the unexpected sight of Buffy, were huge by the end of the story.

She stood up and grabbed Xander, who yelped in protest, and the three of them dashed to where Giles was waiting outside a taxi.

Once they had all piled in, Xander asked indignantly; "Does somebody want to tell me what on earth's going on?"

Giles filled him in- Buffy wasn't sure she could stand recounting the story another time.

"Buffy, how could you lose the lighter?" Xander said, but instantly regretted it when he saw Buffy's eyes fill with tears.

Willow shot Xander an accusing glare before leaning over to hug her friend. He shrugged awkwardly and apologized.

Buffy sniffled and wiped her eyes. "No Xander, I'm sorry. I've been completely selfish since we left Sunnydale. I understand you're going through pain as well, and I'm really, really sorry."

Much to Xander's surprise, Buffy flung her arms around him and he hugged her back as well as he could, considering they were sitting in the back of a taxi.

Giles' dry cough interrupted their embrace, and alerted them to the fact that they had arrived at the hotel.

Buffy smiled warmly at Xander as they got out of the car, and Willow and Xander exchanged fleeting grins.

Opening the room, the first thing Buffy saw was Andrew sitting in the corner with his back turned and what looked like a semi explosion on the big king sized bed.

"Andrew?" Buffy asked apprehensively, "What on earth happened here?"

The toilet flushed and Dawn emerged from the bathroom. "Andrew got angry because I said he was cheating in Dungeons and Dragons so he overturned the board and threw all the pieces at me."

Buffy rolled her eyes, but couldn't hold back a smile. They were both too cute.

"Faith still not back?"

"No. She probably won't be till after dawn."

"Well, Dawnie, do you think you could do me a favour?" Buffy was reluctant to drag her little sister into the problem but she knew Dawn would make herself involved no matter what, and therefore could at least do something useful.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I really need you to find Faith for me. Take Xander and Andrew with you, Xander will give you the 411 on the latest oogely boogely."

Dawn jumped up. "Oogely boogelys? Find Faith? I'm on it. Come on guys," she gestured Xander and Andrew out the door, Xander collecting several stakes on his way out.

"Ok," Buffy paced around the room, thinking.

"Will, you and me can work this location spell out, Giles you can look things up, and when Faith gets back me and her are gonna go out and kick this lady's ass till she gives my lighter back."

Willow walked into the adjoining room to pick up the required ingredients, leaving Buffy and Giles standing alone together.

"Buffy, I…" Giles began, but Buffy cut him off abruptly.

"It'll have to wait till later Giles. I need that lighter back. We can't let this demon summon Spike. Who knows what he'll come back like? Remember when Angel returned from Hell?"

Giles nodded gravely. "I'll go 'look up stuff'."

Willow returned holding a handful of herbs and a big map of the Cairo area.

"Let's hope she hasn't gone too far."

She muttered an incantation over the map and let go her fistful of herbs. They hung lazily over the paper for a moment, before accumulating in a bunch over an area in Khan Al-Khalili.

Buffy stared at the map for a moment, before leaping to her feet. "OK, we got a location. When Faith gets back, we can head over there and show that demon what it means to mess with a Slayer."

She didn't have to wait long. Several minutes later a sweaty and tousled Faith burst through the door, Dawn, Xander and Andrew hot on her heels.

"Hey, B. The gang filled me in. Let's go kick some demon ass."

Buffy smiled at her attitude and grabbed a particularly lethal looking knife from the weapons stash, stuffing in into her jacket.

The pair made it to the bazaar in record time, ignoring the irritating wolf whistles from the local men lining the streets.

"Alright B where exactly are we headed?"

Buffy held up the map, the place the herbs had landed on marked in red.

"Here. It could get difficult finding the stall again, but if we have to I can get Will to cast another spell to illuminate it. We don't wanna warn demon lady though."

"Agreed."

The two Slayers wandered around the vast markets for a few minutes before Buffy threw out her arm to indicate to Faith to stop.

"It should be just around here. I recognize some of these places from earlier."

They both stood still and scanned the surrounding area before Buffy gave a yelp.

"There! That's the one!" She pointed to an entrance a few hundred meters away, a beaded curtain the only form of door.

Faith put her hand inside her jacket, feeling her knife and stake for reassurance. "Let's go in."

They walked up to the curtain, pushing it aside slowly as to not make any noise.

Tiptoeing in silently, Faith in front of Buffy, Buffy almost screamed as Faith suddenly stopped in front of her and inhaled deeply.

"What is it?" Buffy hissed.

"Um, B, I would definitely say this doesn't look good." Faith gestured to the corpse of the fortuneteller, her head twisted at an impossible angle.

The vat of viscous liquid had tipped and seeped over the floor, surrounding the demonic woman in an eerie pool.

Buffy's face was a mask of horror. "Spike's back."

On cue, the pale vampire stepped out of the shadows. "That's right, luv."


End file.
